1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to coin operated telephone paystations and more particularly to a coin relay for use with an associated coin hopper mechanism in a microcomputer controlled coin telephone as utilized in the deregulated paystation industry.
2. BACKGROUND ART
Coin relays with associated coin hopper mechanisms have been utilized in paystations for many years to hold the coind deposited by the user until telephone calls have been completed or until the telephone central office sends appropriate collect or refund signals to the paystation for disposition of the coins. These coin control relays in general are designed to operate on coin collect and refund signals as applied by the telephone central office. In the regulated paystation industry such relays are generally referred to as 48 volt relays requiring voltage in approximately the 48 volt range for operation.
The coin control relays when operated are specifically designed to be operated on a slow-to-release basis to provide adequate time for coins deposited by the user to fall from the hopper. Various operate and release times have been required to meet the standards set by different telephone operating companies. Therefore, such relays frequently require special adjustments for many telephone company customer users. Such coin control relays usually contain contacts which open the current path to the relay until coins are deposited.
With the advent of the deregulated paystation market coin relays have been modified to operate on lower voltages with various configurations of relay coils and contacts to meet some of the needs of the deregulated market. Most, if not all, of the deregulated paystation manufacturers utilize 5 volt logic power supplies with logic included in the telephone circuitry, however because of the particular requirements of the coin relays they have been required to supply additional circuitry and power supplies to power the coin relays at the higher voltages commonly used as in the regulated paystation industry.